1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dual-bearing reel that is attachable to a fishing rod and is configured to forwardly reel out a fishing line.
2. Background Art
A dual-bearing reel generally includes a spool, a reel unit, and a handle. The reel unit includes first and second main body parts disposed for sandwiching a spool from both ends of the spool. The handle is attached to the first main body part. When the handle is rotated by an angler, the rotation of the handle is transmitted to the spool by a rotation transmission mechanism accommodated in the first main body part. The spool is thereby rotated. The rotation transmission mechanism includes a drive gear, a pinion gear, and a clutch mechanism. The drive gear is mounted onto a handle shaft. The pinion gear is mounted onto a spool shaft while being rotatable and axially movable. The pinion gear is also meshed with the drive gear. The clutch mechanism is configured to engage/disengage the handle and the spool. A fishing line can be reeled out of the spool or can be wound about the spool by operating the clutch mechanism (see e.g., Japan Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2001-148975).
In recent years, fishing reels have been demanded to speed up a gear ratio, i.e., increase the number of spool rotation per handle rotation. To meet the demand, the diameter of the pinion gear has been reduced, whereas the diameter of the drive gear has been increased. As a result, a tendency has been observed that the first main body part accommodating the drive gear is increased in its size.